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You'd be surprised, I've seen 4 Black Quattroportes come through our dealership with red leather in the last 4 months. I personally wasn't sure I'd like it but after seeing it in person must say "I like it".

Now that&#146;s Italian. Maserati today unveiled its new GranTurismo, a larger, more classically styled replacement for the Coupe model that marked the brand&#146;s return to the U.S. in 2002. The new four-seater draws on the company's rich design heritage and will undercut its closest competitor, the $170,000 Bentley Continental GT, by about $40,000 with an estimated price of around $130,000.

There are currently no plans for a convertible version, though Jeffrey Ehoodin, Maserati&#146;s U.S. spokesman, acknowledged that a two-seat, convertible Spyder would make sense to round out the lineup.

The GranTurismo will be shown in public at the Geneva International Motor Show in March and will make its U.S. debut at April&#146;s New York International Auto Show.

Designed by Italian firm Pininfarina, the 2008 GranTurismo is currently slated to arrive in September, with about 300 to 400 cars slated for U.S. dealers in the initial model year.

Company officials said the new model draws design inspiration from the Maserati A6 GCS of 1953-55, a race car whose wins included the famed Mille Miglia in Italy.

Ehoodin acknowledged that the previous Coupe performed well but didn&#146;t reflect the styling heritage of Maserati. &#147;We went back to the classic proportions,&#148; Ehoodin said. &#147;The new car is beautiful and very modern, not retro at all, but you can clearly see the lineage, and that&#146;s not something the previous coupe had.&#148;

The GranTurismo will share its basic platform with the Maserati Quattroporte sedan and also its stirring 4.2-liter, 405-hp V8 engine, manufactured at Ferrari&#146;s engine plant in Maranello, Italy. Eventually, the GranTurismo will likely add the new 4.7-liter Maserati V8 that will first be seen in the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, of which 99 will be sold to U.S. owners beginning this fall.

The GranTurismo is designed as a direct shot at the Bentley Continental GT, a worldwide hit with critics and buyers. Maserati executives said that the GranTurismo will easily out-handle the heavier Bentley, while delivering a much more accommodating backseat.

Acceleration and other performance figures were not announced, though the GranTurismo should logically be a touch quicker than the slightly larger, heavier Quattroporte. That sedan runs from 0 to 60 mph in about 5.3 seconds and reaches a 170-mph top speed.

Just as importantly, the car will get the Quattroporte&#146;s new-for-2007, six-speed automatic transmission by manufacturer ZF &#151; a potentially huge improvement over the clunky, automated manual featured in the now-defunct Coupe and Spyder models. That same transmission delivers seamless shifts in models like Jaguar&#146;s XK and XKR. Steering-wheel paddle shifters will be an option, as in the Quattroporte.

Company officials hope the new model will continue to advance Maserati&#146;s momentum in the U.S. In the past few years, sales have doubled, from about 1,100 sales in 2004 to 2,300 in 2006. The company, which came under Ferrari&#146;s corporate wing in 1997, was returned to Fiat&#146;s corporate control in 2005; Fiat also owns the Italian brands Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Lancia.

Maserati has 47 dealers in the U.S., 36 of them operating in tandem with Ferrari dealerships, and is looking to add more; Alfa Romeo is expected to add a third Italian brand at many of those dealerships when it stages its own U.S. comeback around 2009.

&#147;The GranTurismo is the first clean-sheet product of Maserati on its own,&#148; Ehoodin said. &#147;We&#146;re a mature brand now, and the old barriers to Maserati sales are coming down.&#148;

I found the car on sales from a BMW dealership. The deal seems to be too good to be true. They are asking only $38,000. I searched the used price online. Only NADA gave me the info. It should cost at least $50K. Maybe the car was involved in an accident but it is still too cheap...

Can anyone out there tell my why all of the plastic Interior parts: switches, steering wheel case, CD area, vents, etc are dissolving...actually melting away. I love driving my car and am the original owner. But since having this problem, have not been able to enjoy my car! I get Black 'goo' in my fingernails, black rubs off on my clothes...just no escaping this unfortunate situation...I have emailed different Dealerships but no one has made any contact with me.Has anyone experienced this, can someone please shed some light on what I could do about this? Thank you!!

This has happened to me with several convertibles...BMW, Saab and Maserati. The problem is that the rubberized finish on the plastic bits is broken down by the sun's UV. The material softens and becomes tacky and unsightly. One way to fix the problem is to replace the trim pieces....but this is very expensive. The other way I have found is to remove the trim pieces one by one and remove the rubberized coating with acetone. This is a delicate job because you want to remove the coating but you do not want to melt the underlying plastic. Therefore nail polish remover is more mild...will take more work...but will not melt the plastic so easily. Remember that you have to avoid any bits with printing on them beacuse the acetone will remove the print as well as the rubber coating. Also ensure that the bits you strip are black plastic as some of the bits are white...caution...and good luck..

Join the Ferrari/Maserati club of owners with melting interior soft touch plastics. I just spent $4500. to have all effected interior plastic parts on my '02 coupe removed and re finished. I chased my dealer and Maserati of N America for over a year and they refused to do anything about it. I understand that this has been a problem of Maseratis since 2000 and also on Ferraris. Apparently they don't care and continue to use the same faulty chemistry. I am aware through one of the dealer mechanics that this is a consistent problem for both brands and is not just because of UV exposure as my car has been garaged since new and only has 15k miles, most of which have been at night. I am trying to put together a class action against Maserati, as they continue to ignore the problem and have used the same chemistry on their plastics in spite of the feedback for seven years. Send me email info and I'll keep you posted on this action. You can try calling Karen Hayes at Maserati N America 201-816-2600 but she didn't want to help me! Amazing how they treat + $100k customers...never again for Maserati! GOOD LUCK!

Thank you for your reply. I always kept my car inside the garage, I think it may have to do with heat as well. But thanks so much for taking the time to respond and help me. Btw, I own a 2005 BMW as well purchased brand new and have not experienced this at all.Warmly, Kathryn

Dear mrati, Thank you so much for all of your help with suggestions! I had a feeling that this was going to be 'pricey' to fix...seems unfair as it is a 'defect' and nothing we've done...(no neglect on our part) I feel the same as you, one would think that spending $100k on a car would at least get some reliable customer service...they ignore it BECAUSE they know it's a problem...they are aware in other words. I was looking at the Quattroporte but have changed my mind as well...this hurts in more ways than one! I am all for support in the class action suit...I am not a 'sue happy' person...but this is soooo unfair! I have kept my car in the garage and when I take it somewhere...it is kept in garaged parking...(I;m so picky about that) also, My car has only 9000miles on it I have treated it like a newborn baby...this was my first expensive car I've ever owned...it was a dream and I was fortunate enough to get one brand new! I will definitely contact Karen Hayes I may have someone else in mind...the President of Maserati...in Italy...now you have given me hope and something to hold onto and fight for! Please keep me posted and I will do same for you! Never say never though...maybe we can make 'change' happen, its worth a shot...I love my Maserati! Stay in touch okay! Kathryn

I wanted to follow up and say that if any of you are members of the Ferrari/Maserati Club, you may want to poll members and find out how many have had problems with the melting of interior plastics....I think you'd be surprised. I have also contacted the factory,where I took delivery of my Maserati Coupe and they were unresponsive and I was told to contact Maserati N America and/or the local dealer. I have exhausted all approaches to both with nobody willing to take any responsibility. While The Collection in Miami acknowleged that they have other customers with the problem, they were unwilling to do anything, as my car was beyond waranty. This problem seems to develop after about three years, may be heat connected or possibly a reaction to chemicals from car wash...or more likely a design defect in the plastics. I also contacted Shelton Ferrari and they knew about the problem and had a relationship with an outside vendor that would rehab these parts but after contacting this guy, I found he could not replace the printing on all the nav buttons and other swtiches that have identifying marks.I contacted Karen Hayes at Maserati N America (201-816-2600) several times and she and her cohorts were unwilling to provide any reasonable assistance toward resolving this problem with melting, oozing plastics. I finally took it to a local car restorer who has a relationship with a mechanic at The Collection and he was able to do the restoration and paid for the reprinted labeling, which was very expensive but necessary for a proper outcome. Total cost was over $4500 for the full restoration with no guarantee that it won't happen again. The question I have is: How could Ferrari/Maserati...FIAT knowingly allow for these same defective plastics to be used on their exotic cars from at least 2000 thru at least 2007, which is the latest model year I have heard has problems through the Collection mechanic....so far??? Isn't that negligence when you know you have a design defect that effects the reasonable use of a product and you continue to perpetuate it over eight successive years of manufacturing. Wouldn't most other automobile companies recall their cars and correct the problem and assure that engineering of new model years eliminated the problem? If Ferrari/Maserati...FIAT had not ignored me and many other owners nor repeated this defect over at least eight years but rather shown some compassion for owners that have paid well in excess of $100k for one of their cars, I might be more understanding......but they chose to ignore the problem and not take responsibilty and must be held accountable. Please drop me an email if your are interested in finding out more about feedback, solutions and restorers of these plastic problems and I will happily include you in the stream of information on this issue as it develops. In the mean time, you may want to start wearing rubber gloves when you drive your prized Maserati...or sell it quickly and buy from a manufacturer that properly designs, tests and supports their vehicles and customers!

same problem here with my 2005 Qport Maserati....whole rubber lining in the interior of car has dissolved into a gooy tar??? called Maserati...they said "we need $4500.00 to repair this problem"....need to join in aclass action suit...also they have a failed transmission problem with this dual transmission...slipping clutch in all these cars...another class action